Thursday, May 05, 2005

Free Software



The desktop you are seeing above is running on
Xandos Linnux
program on my PC. I still have my windows
XP on my now dual-boot sytem.
I do I still need windows,
well I use
isilo alot on my Palm T3 to read news websites
and the isilo is not available on Linux yet.


Well I must say that Xandros is very easy to use and it
feels alot
like Windows Xp except that it is not so easy
when it comes to
Installing new software for xandros
to run. You need to know abit of
command line codes
which I myself is just starting to scratch the surface
however programs written for Debian that ends with *.deb
installs just
like the *.exe in windows. Hmm I am starting
to sound like a geek already
but rest assured that Xandros
is not for geeks but ordinary folks who
just wants to do
basic stuff such as surfing, typing a memo, listening
to
music cd and so on without ever worrying about virus
and spyware and stuff.


I especially like their user forum where the folks are really
friendly and where most of the
queries about xandros or
linux will be answered in simple terms to understand.
Those who are
still apprehensive about linux should pay
a visit to the forum to post their question or do a
search.
Most of the concerns of Windows users are posted in the
forum such as How to I partition
the hard disk to install
Xandros and will Xandros detect my hardware and so on.


My PC is a three year old Packard Bell system that came preinstalled
with windows Xp
My videocard was upgraded to ATI 9600pro last
year to play the latest 3D games but since then
my brother bought
an Xbox system and now all video games are played in Xbox except
for the
occasional C&C Red Alert and Warcraft 3 on my PC. Oh yes
except for certain titles, you can't
play Major game titles in Linux
although it should improve once more users start using linux.


Anyway Xandros detected all my hardware and installed drivers
for it.The Installtion was a breeze
finished in 4 steps and
once you reboot you will be given a choice as to boot in Xandos
or Xp.
I have logged into Windows Xp and everything was ok
and working (giving lots of error reports! as usual)


Once In Xandros you can see what is in the "C" drive and
even open your word, graphic and even
mp3 files but you
can't save your work in C drive as Windows is formatted in
either FAT32 or NTFS.
You won't be able to see what files
are in the Xandros partition while in Xp as Windows doesn't
read
from reiserfs formatted disk. Xandros formats itself in reiserfs.
Well atleast if windows crashes,
you can save your vital work from
Xandros and that was the single biggest thing that bought me
over
as Windows crashes often and I am not the
person to Backup my work. And the best part is Xandros comes
as a FREE download

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Blogging From Xandros

Guess what, I have too the plunge and installed Xandros Linux Desktop after trying out Knoppis Live Cd last week. The first impression is that everything exactly like Windos XP minus the frequent crashes for the former.